What We’re Reading: September 4, 2017

There’s a shortage of health care workers serving the country’s aging population, with the number of specialists shrinking. Health Reporter Erin Billups takes a look at the problem and one possible solution. Mayra Hernandez couldn’t walk after she had a stroke in June, so she was moved to the New Jewish Home on the Upper West Side. “I didn’t want to walk,” Hernandez said. She was afraid of falling, and wouldn’t try — until she met 17-year-old Enrique Stevenson.

“She makes me happy when I’m here,” said Stevenson. “We’re here to take care of them, to help feel like they’re at home.” Stevenson is part of the nursing home’s Geriatric Career Development Program, which trains at-risk high schoolers how to care for aging New Yorkers. By the time they graduate, they are Certified Nurse Assistants (CNAs.)

Anthem said it would offer individual coverage under the Affordable Care Act in “68 counties in Missouri that otherwise would not have health insurance for their residents,” although it is still scaling back from the 85 counties where the insurer sells Obamacare plans this year. The move, announced Friday by the nation’s second-largest health insurer, is in contrast to its decisions to exit the ACA individual market on a larger scale in Virginia, Ohio, Indiana, Nevada and Wisconsin, where Anthem has for years sold coverage under the Blue Cross Blue Shield brand.

The Trump administration is gutting federal funds that help Americans sign up for health coverage under the Affordable Care Act, cutting grants to grass-roots groups that assist with enrollment by 40 percent and slashing an advertising budget from $100 million to $10 million.

The announcement late Thursday afternoon, just nine weeks before the start of the fifth annual enrollment season, is the first indication of how an administration determined to overturn the health-care law will oversee the window for new and returning consumers buying coverage for 2018.

Here in famously pet-friendly Los Angeles, I encounter dogs that are blatantly not service animals on a daily basis. Recently, during a morning visit to my local café, I laughed when a woman whose tiny dog was thrashing around at the limits of its leash and barking fiercely at other customers loudly proclaimed that it was a service animal. “It’s my service dog,” she said to me, scowling. “You’re not allowed to ask me why I need it!”

One worry Americans face as they grow older is the possibility of needing nursing home care and paying for the associated costs. A new study finds that the average American’s lifetime risk of using a nursing home is substantially greater than previously believed, but the financial costs will be affordable for most people.

A group of researchers is challenging the long-held notion that students of color are identified as having learning disabilities at a greater rate than white students – a controversial finding that undercuts a key assumption of the Obama administration and could lead to significant changes in how the federal government requires states to spend their special education dollars.

Couch potatoes, take note: A new study admonishes older adults to get up from watching the TV or risk losing their mobility. Excessive sitting, especially while watching TV, poses a significant health hazard to older Americans, researchers warn. “There’s something about TV watching that is really damaging,” said study lead author Loretta DiPietro. “Perhaps because people usually settle in for the night on a recliner and don’t move and start binge-watching, without breaks.”

Just like high blood pressure or cholesterol, loneliness in seniors is a disease that experts say can and should be treated. And there’s a local WWII veteran who’s created his own weekly cure. The coffee is always fresh at the Corner Café in Rockledge. The talk and laughs flow freely.

In response to the devastating floods in Texas, Amerigroup Texas along with the Amerigroup Foundation have launched several support efforts to help its members, residents and communities across the state who have been impacted by recent events. Amerigroup is working with disaster relief partners to assist impacted residents and first responders. The health plan has also revised pharmacy and health care guidelines to make it easier for its Amerigroup Medicaid, Medicare, and Medicare-Medicaid Plan members to access needed services and supports during this traumatic time

She wanted her clients to look to her for inspiration, so Teresa Boullemet stamped out her cigarette, popped a peppermint, sprayed herself with perfume and applied fresh lipstick. “Are you going to the farthest corners of the world today?” her assistant asked as she walked to her car. “Roanoke,” Boullemet said. “Say a prayer for us.” And then, carrying pamphlets saying she provides “guidance and choices” to disabled people interested in working, she set out for what may not be the farthest corner of the world, but is certainly one of the farthest corners of Alabama.

State Department eliminates US Special Advisor for International Disabilities Rights

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The information and links provided here are a courtesy. The National Advisory Board does not necessarily endorse or share the views contained in any article, report or web site. No link provided here should be considered an endorsement of any opinion, product or service that may be offered in the article or at the linked-to site.